BROAD CREEK — He goes by Jac for short, but Croatan basketball standout JacQues Chambers could also go by a couple other names as well.

First, the 18-year-old Chambers is Mr. Explosive, which the 6-foot-3, 185-pound forward has shown to be this season en route to averaging 21.8 points per game, despite being recently hampered with a sore right ankle.

“Against Clinton and Northside, honestly he was at about 50-60 percent and he was still capable of (playing well),” Croatan coach Kirk McDougle said. “For a guy to be at 50-60 percent and still be a factor and still be a shining factor, that’s really telling you how explosive he is.”

But Chambers isn’t just explosive for the Cougars (11-2, 2-2 East Central 2-A Conference), who visit league foe Topsail (6-6, 0-4) tonight. You can also refer to him as Mr. 1,000, given he recently reached 1,000 points for his three-year high school varsity career at Croatan.

Chambers scored 22 points in the Cougars’ 76-45 win over East Duplin on Tuesday to reach 1,000 points, a feat he said he will remember for a long time because it was quite an individual accomplishment — and the fact he did it at home.

“It means a lot to me,” Chambers said. “I’ve just played as hard as I can game in and game out, and whether I’m hurt or healthy, I’m still going to give 100 percent. When I finally got the 1,000th point, I felt all the hard work had paid off and it was just a wonderful experience.

“But it’s not going to slow me down. It makes me want to work harder.”

Chambers has had to work harder this season after the departure of the Williams family — coach Dexter Williams and twins Ashley and Aaron. The two players transferred to the Greenfield School in Wilson in the summer.

Ashley Williams was The Daily News player of the year last year, but his absence meant Chambers had to elevate his game.

“Last year it was me, Austin (Saunders), Aaron and Ashley who put up most of the scoring and now two of our top-rated scorers were gone and so, of course, me and Austin were like, ‘It’s time to step up.’” Chambers said.

“We knew when things got rough and not going our way, it would either be me or him that had to have the ball to make something happen, whether we take it ourselves or get our teammates involved. There was some added pressure, but I think we have done pretty well handling it.”

Chambers has certainly put in his fair share of work this season.

Not only is he averaging about 21 points — he has scored at least 15 points in 11 of 13 games — Chambers is also averaging 8.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.3 blocks.

Page 2 of 3 - His highest scoring output this season came when he scored 47 points in a 99-96 victory over Havelock on Dec. 27. His next came Dec. 7 when he scored 30 points in a 61-38 win over West Carteret. Chambers also scored 28 in a 77-59 victory over Pamlico on Dec. 11.

But the 47-point game will always be special to Chambers.

“Man, oh, man,” he said, “that’s something I won’t forget.”

And so far Chambers is having a memorable senior season after he averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last year to help the Cougars win the ECC regular-season and tournament titles for the first time and advance to the sectional finals of the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to be a part of this,” said McDougle, who is in his first year as head coach after coaching the JV the previous two years. “To watch Jac for the last three years and finally get the opportunity to coach him…, he’s such a pure talent. But I really think he hasn’t even scratched the surface of his potential.”

Scary thought isn’t it?

Where last season he was more of a perimeter threat, Chambers is now more versatile and a player who can score in different ways. He still fires up his jump shot with confidence, but he also goes strong to the basket and is always a threat for a slam dunk on the break.

Rather, Chambers can grind it out inside with the best of them. He also gets right into the thick of it on defense, typically guarding the opponent’s best scorer.

Chambers believes his defense sparks his offense.

“Before every game, coach is like, ‘JacQues, you got’ such and such and normally that player is their best player. I’m like, ‘Give me their best scorer’ because I pride myself on shutting him down,” Chambers said.

“The way I like to play comes when he is out of his game and I just let the ball come to me and I get fast-break points. If they leave me open (during half-court offensive set), I’m going to shoot it, and if they play too rough on me, I’m going to go to the basket.

“It all starts on defense for me, and that’s where I get my motivation.”

Chambers’ defense-first mentality impresses McDougle.

“The great thing about him is that he wants to guard everybody. Whether the guy is 7-foot or 5-6, he wants to guard him,” McDougle said. “Usually top scorers want to focus on offense and defense is to catch their breath.

Page 3 of 3 - “And the thing that’s really impressive is him getting as many rebounds he has since he’s guarded a lot of perimeter players. That just shows you what an athlete he is and how much he hustles.”

But Chambers isn’t content with his accomplishments to date. He wants more and he wants to continue being a driving force for the Cougars. Chambers also wants to continue showing that he’s among the best players in the area and conference.

“I need to be a leader along with Austin, and I got to be that floor general,” Chambers said. “We’ve got two 20-point scorers on our team, Northside has one, South Lenoir has one and Clinton probably has one somewhere.

“That’s a challenge, and I know I have to go into every game knowing I got to put some work in.”